author
Maarten Gerritszoon Vries
A Dutch explorer and cartographer of the 17th century, he is remembered for voyages that brought some of the earliest Western European written accounts of Hokkaidō, Sakhalin, the Kuril Islands, and the Sea of Okhotsk. His name still appears on maps, in place names, and in the story of early exploration in the North Pacific.
1 Audiobook
Reize van Maarten Gerritsz. Vries in 1643 naar het Noorden en Oosten van Japan volgens het journaal gehouden door C.J. Coen, op het schip Castricum
by Maarten Gerritszoon Vries, Cornelis Janszoon Coen, Philipp Franz von Siebold
About the author
Not much is firmly recorded about his early life, but Maarten Gerritszoon Vries was born in Harlingen in the Netherlands in 1589 and later worked for the Dutch East India Company. He spent years in Asia, including time in Taiwan, where his skills as a navigator and cartographer became especially important.
He is best known for a 1643 voyage into the northern Pacific ordered during the governorship of Anthony van Diemen. On that expedition, Vries sailed near Japan and explored waters around what are now Hokkaidō, Sakhalin, and the Kuril Islands, leaving one of the first Western European accounts of the region. Several geographic names connected with the voyage, including the De Vries Strait, preserve his legacy.
Vries died at sea near Manila in late 1647. Even though much of his life remains faint in the historical record, his journeys helped expand European knowledge of Northeast Asia and made him a lasting figure in the history of exploration.